Toy Related Deaths and Injuries
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Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Toy-Related Deaths 4 Table 1: Reported Toy-Related Deaths Among Children Younger than 15 Years of Age, 2011–2013 5 Table 2: Reported Toy-Related Deaths Among Children Younger than 15 Years of Age, 2013 6 Estimated Toy-Related Injuries 8 Table 3: Annual Toy-Related Emergency Department-Treated Injury Estimates, 2009–2013 8 Figure 1: Distribution of Toy-Related Injury Estimates by Body Regions Injured for All Ages, 2013 9 Figure 2: Distribution of Toy-Related Injury Estimates by Type of Injuries for All Ages, 2013 9 Table 4: Toy Categories Associated with the Largest Number of Estimated Emergency Department-Treated Injuries for Different Age Groups, 2013 10 Table 5: Nonmotorized Scooter-Related Emergency Department-Treated Injury Estimates for Children of Different Age Groups, 2009–2013 11 Table 6: Annual Emergency Department-Treated Injury Estimates Associated with Product Code, “Toys, Not Elsewhere Classified,” for Different Age Groups, 2010–2013 12 Table 7: Annual Emergency Department-Treated Injury Estimates Associated with Product Code, “Toys, Not Specified,” for Different Age Groups, 2010–2013 12 Table 8: Toy-Related Injury Estimates Adjusted for the Correction Factor for Different Age Groups and Toy Categories Associated with the Most Adjusted Estimated Injuries, 2013 13 Appendix A: Estimated Number of Toy-Related Injuries from 1999 through 2013 15 Table 9: Toy-Related Emergency Department-Treated Injury Estimates for Different Age Groups, 1999–2013 16 Figure 3: Toy-Related Emergency Department-Treated Injury Estimates for Different Age Groups, 1999–2013 17 Appendix B: NEISS Product Codes for Toys as of January 1, 2013 18 2 Executive Summary In this report, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff presents the latest available statistics on deaths and emergency department-treated injuries associated with toys. For toy-related deaths and injuries, it is important to note that although a toy was associated with many of the incidents, the toy was not necessarily the cause of the death or injury. Additionally, due to delays in death certificate reporting, fatality information for 2011, 2012 and 2013 is not yet complete. Reported Fatalities in Calendar Year 2013 • CPSC staff received nine reports of toy-related deaths that occurred in the 2013 calendar year among children younger than 15 years old. Moreover, all nine victims were younger than 12 years of age. • Riding toys were associated with two (22 percent) of the nine reported deaths in 2013. • Most toy-related deaths in 2013 were due to asphyxiation (seven deaths—including one possible asphyxiation case). Emergency Department-Treated Injuries in Calendar Year 2013 • In 2013, there were an estimated 256,700 toy-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments. • There is not a statistically significant trend in the estimated number of toy-related injuries from 2009 to 2013, for all individuals, children younger than 15 years, children 12 years of age or younger, or children younger than 5 years. • A plurality (43 percent) of the estimated emergency department-treated injuries are classified as lacerations, contusions, or abrasions. Forty-four percent of the estimated injuries were to the head and face area, the most commonly affected area of the body. • Males accounted for 148,100 (58 percent) of the estimated toy-related injuries in 2013. • Ninety-six percent of the emergency department-treated, toy-related injury victims were treated and released. • Of the 256,700 estimated toy-related, emergency department-treated injuries, an estimated 188,400 (73 percent) happened to children younger than 15 years of age; an estimated 178,100 (69 percent) occurred to children 12 years of age or younger; an estimated 83,700 (33 percent) happened to children younger than 5 years of age. • For children 12 years of age or younger and children younger than 15 years old, nonmotorized scooters continued to be the category of toys associated with the most injuries (27 percent and 28 percent, respectively) in 2013. There is no statistically significant trend in the estimated number of injuries associated with nonmotorized scooters in the last 5 years for children in these two age groups. 3 Introduction This report provides updated summary information on toy-related fatalities for the years 2011 and 2012, and the report gives detailed information on toy-related fatalities for 2013. These fatality counts are based on reports obtained by CPSC staff from the CPSC Injury and Potential Injury Incident file (IPII), Death Certificate File (DTHS), In-Depth Investigations (INDP), and the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). In addition, this report presents the estimated emergency department- treated injuries associated with toys for the 2013 calendar year and the injury estimates from 2009 to 2013, based on the NEISS. In Appendix A, historical estimated toy-related emergency department- treated injuries from 1999 to 2013 are given, along with their 95 percent confidence intervals. Appendix B lists the NEISS product codes used to generate this report. 1 Toy-Related Deaths Fatalities of children younger than 15 years of age, as reported to CPSC staff from 2011 to 2013, are summarized in Table 1. The reported death totals for each year are listed at the top of the table, with each year’s reported deaths detailed by the type of toy with a parenthetical description of the hazard in the rows below. Due to delays in death certificate reporting, fatality information for 2011, 2012 and 2013 is not yet complete. The data from 2011 and 2012 have been updated based on six new incident reports received by CPSC staff during 2013—one fatality happened in 2011, and five fatalities occurred in 2012. Thus, the data differ from the reported fatality tabulations detailed in the previous memorandum for the calendar year 2012.2 The six fatalities that occurred in 2011 and 2012, but reported in 2013, involved children 12 years of age or younger. The toys involved in these fatalities were: a powered riding toy; a balloon; a marble; a plastic hot dog toy; a stuffed animal toy; and a water gun. Toys that are associated with more than one fatality between 2011 and 2013 are listed in Table 1 to highlight the toys (and associated hazards). For other types of toys associated with only one fatality across the given years, the information is summarized in the final row of Table 1. Fatalities are included where a toy was present and, based on statements by investigators, police, family members, or medical examiners, may have played a contributing role in the death. 1 These fatalities do not represent a sample of known probability of selection. They may not include all of the toy-related deaths that occurred during the time period, in part, because at the time of data extraction, death certificate reporting was 94 percent, 86 percent, and 41 percent complete for 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively. 2 Y.Tu, “Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries, Calendar Year 2012,” CPSC, November 2013. 4 Table 1: Reported Toy-Related Deaths Among Children Younger Than 15 Years of Age 2011–20133 20114 20124 2013 Type of Toy (Hazard) Children 12 Children 13 Children 12 Children 13 Children 12 Children 13 Years of Age and 14 Years Years of Age and 14 Years Years of Age and 14 Years or Younger of Age or Younger of Age or Younger of Age TOTAL 18 16 9 Sub Total 17 1 16 0 9 0 Balloons (airway obstruction, aspiration, asphyxiation, choking) 5 3 1 Tricycles (drowning, fall) 2 5 Nonmotorized scooters (motor vehicle involvement) 1 1 2 1 Stuffed toys/doll/doll accessory/toy figure (suffocation, asphyxia, 2 3 choking, drowning) Powered riding toys (mechanical asphyxia, neck injury/asphyxiation) 1 1 Plastic toy foods (choking) 1 1 Marbles (asphyxia, choking) 1 1 Other toys with a single reported fatality in the year (asphyxiation, 8 2 1 drowning, choking, fall, hanging) Source: In-Depth Investigations (INDP), Injury and Potential Injury Incidents (IPII), Death Certificates (DTHS), and the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) from 1/1/2011 to 12/31/2013; CPSC. Data was extracted in July 2014. 3 Toy-related deaths among children 12 years of age or younger are presented to be consistent with the age definition for a children’s product in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), 15 U.S.C. § 2052 (a)(2). 4 One new toy-related death was reported to CPSC staff occurring in the 2011 calendar year, and five new toy-related deaths were reported to CPSC occurring in the 2012 calendar year, increasing the number of reported deaths to 18 in 2011 and 16 in 2012. 5 Table 2 details the fatalities associated with toys for children younger than 15 years of age in 2013 that were reported to CPSC staff. The toy types and associated hazards involved in these reported fatalities are presented in descending order of the frequency of reports. There is one toy (a rubber ball) in Table 2, which was associated with one death that is included in the last row of Table 1 with “other toys.” There are five other toys (i.e., a balloon; a nonmotorized scooter; a powered riding toy; plastic toy food; and a marble) that were each associated with a single death in 2013; however, because these toys were associated with other deaths in 2011 and/or 2012, they are presented in other rows of Table 1 to highlight the hazard. As shown in Table 2, six of the nine reported fatalities (67 percent) of children younger than 15 years of age in 2013 involved asphyxiation. These fatalities were associated with the following toys: toy figures; a balloon; plastic toy food; a marble; and a rubber ball.